


A Strange But True Story

by pearl_o



Category: due South
Genre: Aliens Make Them Do It, M/M, Reverse Chronology
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-05-23
Updated: 2005-05-23
Packaged: 2017-10-05 19:22:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/45238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pearl_o/pseuds/pearl_o
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I heard this from a friend of a friend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Strange But True Story

_RAY: Did you get anything on me? _

_FRASER: Well, it would appear that you were abducted by aliens at the age of ten._

\--from "Seeing is Believing"

* * *

I. _Stanley Raymond Kowalski's apartment, May 12th, 2000_

When Diefenbaker checks in on the humans again, the tension and charged atmosphere from earlier seem to have dissipated. Ben and Ray appear to be locked in some sort of odd but apparently comfortable embrace. The air smells now less of Ben's discomfort and fear, as it did when they first arrived, and more like the less-familiar scent of his musk and fluids, along with another smell which Dief immediately places as the equivalent from Ray.

Ben and Ray are speaking to each other in low tones, but Diefenbaker finds human melodramatics somewhat less than captivating. Things appear fine here; he can go.

Even better, by the looks of things, he judges he can feel free to help himself in Ray's kitchen.

* * *

II. _Stanley Raymond Kowalski's apartment, one hour before_

"What part of 'never mention this again ever' did you not get, Fraser?" Ray yells, waving his arms through the air. "Does it look like hell has frozen over here?"

Fraser stands against the wall of Ray's apartment, arms folded across his chest. "I realize the subject makes you uncomfortable, Ray--"

"Uncomfortable? Do I _look_ uncomfortable?"

"Actually, yes," Fraser says. He crosses the room towards Ray and Ray freezes suddenly. Fraser stops two feet away, letting out his breath slowly. "Ray, don't you think it's possible -- just possible -- that things happen for a reason?"

"Things happen for a reason, sure, and the reason for this was that they're fucking looney tunes! They had Russian accents, even, you know nothing sane comes out of a mouth like that, I watched Rocky and Bullwinkle when I was a kid. They're crazy, and that's it. I know this and you know this, Fraser. I don't know what good you think is going to come of bringing this up."

"I thought, perhaps--" Fraser says, and stops. He has the strong urge suddenly to give up, let it go, "wimp out", as Ray would say. But he is a Mountie, after all. "I thought perhaps there was more to it than that."

Ray looks him in the eye, for what is possibly the first time since they've returned from their journey.

"More like what?" Ray says. There's an element in his voice that could be suspicion, or dread, or hope, or any number of things.

"Like perhaps they were-- they were right. When we--" Fraser hesitates; Ray makes a vague "get on with it" gesture. "When we were together. When we kissed -- I had an epiphany. This was something I hadn't realized I wanted."

Ray is staring at Fraser. His limbs are visibly twitching now, his fingers tapping quickly against his leg. He doesn't say a word.

"The question I was left with, then, was whether you had a similar epiphany."

There. All of Fraser's cards are on the table, and now it is up to Ray to decide what to do. Fraser lifts his chin up high and stares back into Ray's wide eyes. He watches as Ray's hand moves slowly slowly up, and he wonders whether Ray is preparing to punch him or kiss him.

* * *

III. _Note passed between Stanley Raymond Kowalski and Constable Benton Fraser, R.C.M.P., at SRK's desk, one day earlier_

Ray,

I realize you have been doing your utmost to avoid me the past few days, and with, I suppose, sufficient reason. Nonetheless, I believe we really do need to speak and see each other again. This forced separation is uncomfortable and trying, and I would guess it is for you, too -- to say nothing of our work conditions.

We can't just ignore this forever.

FRASER - I HAVE NO CLUE WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT. MAYBE I CAUGHT A CASE OF AMNESIA OR SOMETHING. THERE'S NOTHING TO TALK ABOUT.

* * *

IV. _Chicago city park, four days earlier_

"Where the fuck are we?" Ray says.

He sits up immediately, rubbing at the back of his head -- he can already feel a bump forming there. Just chalk it up as another great thing about the day. "And why is the floor wet? Please tell me there is a good reason the floor is wet, Fraser."

Fraser is already on his feet. Ray can just barely see him through the not-quite-blackness of wherever they were -- he's the taller lump a foot to Ray's left. Ray reaches out and grabs on to Fraser's boot to make sure it really is Fraser and not anything creepy.

"That's not a floor, Ray; it's wet grass." Fraser's voice sounds just the same as always, like they weren't just doing all the stuff they were doing, like this has been a perflectly normal day in Canada. "We appear to be back on Earth. Taylor Park, it looks like, and around two a.m., to judge from the moon."

"Glory glory hallelujah," Ray says, and he lets go of Fraser's boot and scrambles to his feet.

* * *

V. _Spaceship orbiting the Earth, several hours earlier_

"Please--" Ray gasps, "please, Fraser-- just, oh, oh, jesus--"

Fraser kisses him again hard, and Ray loses even the tiny bit of a train of thought he had going -- it's just gasping now, panting, trying to stay conscious while Fraser tightens his grip that much tighter, speeds his stroke up just that much more, thrusts hard against Ray's hip and licks a line across Ray's throat, and Ray is coming again, coming for the third time in this bright sterile awful room, and yeah, maybe the aliens are right, maybe this is what's best for him, maybe this is what Ray has been looking for his whole fucking life and he just needed a fucking out-of-this-world experience to figure out.

"Ray..." Fraser moans against Ray's neck, his hips still moving urgently against Ray.

Ray wraps his arms tighter around Fraser and strokes his hands up and now Fraser's sweaty bare back. "Yeah," he says. "I know, Fraser. I know."

* * *

VI. _Spaceship orbiting the Earth, several hours before_

"So you see, Stanley," one of the creatures is saying in their strange and bizarre accent, "we are really doing this for your own good."

"We just want you to be happy," the second creature adds.

They really are astonishingly humanoid. Their expressions seem to be close enough for Fraser to read them as he would people's. The second creature, the slightly smaller one, seems to be doing the equivalent of smiling fondly upon Ray, while the first creature seems to be somehow the more solemn. There's almost a sort of parental air in their attitude towards Ray -- aside from their obvious and complete alienness, Fraser can almost imagine casting them as some sort of proud family members (aunts or uncles perhaps) checking in on a favored child.

Of course, Ray wouldn't see it the same way.

"If you wanted to make me happy, you could drop me back on Earth _right now_," Ray says. He is standing in the middle of the room, all his limbs stretched out taut and tense; he doesn't appear any larger when he is angry, but he never takes up more space. "Maybe you could even add a couple million dollars in it, that might make me happy. Kidnapping me and making me fuck my best friend? That is not the way to make me happy. That is the way to piss me off."

A small noise comes from the one of the creatures, both of whom are still standing in the entranceway to the small room they guided Fraser and Ray to. The second creature says, "Oh, _Stanley_." Fraser fancies that the new tone to her voice may well be disappointment.

"We know you don't remember us," it goes on, "but we had such a good time visiting you last time! You saw our films of you from that visit. By the next time we visit, you will be too far along your lifespan for us to help. And we do want to help! Public humiliation, the wrong choice of your first mate, your family estrangements -- oh, Stanley, none of that was what we hoped for you. Trust us on this. We know what's best for you, Stanley."

"My name is _Ray_," Ray says, through clenched teeth.

The creatures don't directly acknowledge this. Instead, the first one says, in a voice Fraser decides is a not very practiced attempt at soothing, "We're not completely unreasonable. For example, we're aware that your species has a common preference for privacy when engaging in sexual activity. If you like, we'd be completely willing to accommodate you."

"Thank you," Fraser says quickly, before the loud warning signs in Ray's posture and expression can develop into an explosion. "We'd prefer that, yes."

"Splendid," says creature number two, and both creatures reach out to pat the spikes of Ray's hair, causing him to twitch, before they glide out of the room.

Fraser and Ray stand silently in the middle of the bright room for a minute. There are no windows, and a normal sense of gravity; if he didn't know better, Fraser thinks, there's no reason why they couldn't still be on Earth. They could be anywhere.

Fraser's still attempting to recalls the methods of telling whether one is in a dream or something really happening when Ray strikes with a sudden burst of movement, slamming his fist sharply into the stiff wall.

"Ow," Ray says. He steps back, shaking his sore hand through the air. "Shit, that hurt."

"Punching solid objects generally does, yes," Fraser says, taking a step forward. He grabs Ray's wrist, bringing the hand up closer so he can take a look at it. It seems to be fine; Ray didn't hit hard enough to cause any damage to either the wall or himself, apparently.

When Fraser lets go of Ray's hand, Ray is staring at him.

"What?"

Ray swallows and looks away. "You heard what those guys said there, Fraser. About the only way we're getting off this ship."

"Ah." Fraser clears his throat. "So I did."

"Yeah, so. I don't see how we got any choices here. Unless you've got some smart idea." Ray glances at him out of the corner of his eye.

"I -- no. I don't have any smart ideas, I'm afraid."

"That's what I thought," Ray says. "Okay. Then I guess. In a second, I'm gonna kiss you okay? And then we can do ... all the other stuff. And then we can go home."

"All right," Fraser says. He feels a little out of breath.

"All right," Ray repeats after him.

Neither of them move.

"All right," Ray says again, and then his good hand is tight on Fraser's arm, and his face is moving closer to Fraser's own.

* * *

VII. _Outside the Canadian Consulate, Chicago, several hours earlier_

Dief has run ahead, checking out the interesting smells near Ray's car while Ben and Ray walk slowly behind. Really, Dief will never get tired of the city; it's simply amazing how many different and unique scents the place produces on a regular basis. The block around the consulate has more things to explore than miles and miles of the Yukon. Not that Ben appreciates it, of course.

Dief is attempting to fine tune exactly how long it has been since the poodle bitch from two streets down was on this sidewalk last when Ben says, from not far behind him, "Hmmm. Ray, do you see that?"

"What?"

"That."

"That funny shape in the sky?"

"Yes, exactly. Does it seem to be moving to you?"

"Fraser, I know you're unhinged, but--"

When Dief has determined the bitch's itinerary to his satisfaction, he turns around again, but Ben and Ray are nowhere to be seen. More disturbing, their smells seem to have simply vanished into thin air.

* * *

VII. _Spaceship orbiting the Earth, thirty years before_

[Appears to be some sort of film, though what kind of is hard to say. A young STANLEY RAYMOND KOWALSKI is the only subject in the frame. He is seated before a clean white table. He appears to be answering questions of some kind, but only his answers are audible.]

RAY: Stanley Raymond Kowalski.

[pause]

Chicago, Illinois.

[pause]

Ten years old, two Saturdays ago.

[At this point, the film skips a long portion.]

What, like geology and stuff? I don't know much about that. I'm not real great at geography, either. In school we have to try and memorize all of it, all the states and country, but I don't know why I got to know all about all of that if I'm just always gonna be in Chicago.

[At this point, the film skips a long portion.]

I don't know. My mom and dad, they seem real happy, so I guess I'd want something like that when I'm grown up. Somebody nice. Nice, not a jerk, all spoiled and annoying and stupid. And pretty, too. And fun, they'd have to like cool stuff. And they should be funny. And real smart. And we could get a dog, and have kids, and that'd be nice. That's the person I'd wanna marry.

* * *

VIII. _Chicago sidewalk, several hours earlier_

One day, on the way home from picking up a carton of milk at the market for his mom, Stanley Kowalski looked up into the sky and noticed a funny shape off to the side.


End file.
